Keiki

Students from Āliamanu Middle School in the Salt Lake district of O‘ahu re-visit an issue they reported on for HIKI NŌ over six years ago: the pedestrian hazards around their campus and the campus of Āliamanu Elementary School. Most of Salt Lake Boulevard is a four-lane City & County road. But for a one-mile stretch, beginning at the two Āliamanu campuses, the road narrows to two lanes, increasing traffic congestion right in front of the schools. Adding to the problem is the fact that there is a popular shopping center across from the schools, which acts as a lure for students to cross the busy boulevard. In April of 2012, when Āliamanu Middle School’s first report on this subject aired, plans were in place to widen the stretch of Salt Lake Boulevard adjacent to the schools as part of the rail project. Since then, the rail route has shifted from Salt Lake to the airport, and the Salt Lake Boulevard widening project has fallen to the wayside. The original 2012 story will also be aired to provide context for the current story and to show how little has been done about the problem in the ensuing six years.

Program

ALSO FEATURED

–Students from Kalani High School in east O‘ahu show us how to get something we all need: a better night’s sleep.

–Students from Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy in the Waimea district of Hawai‘i Island give us the ins and outs of their keiki triathlon.

–Students from Sacred Hearts Academy on O‘ahu explore how their generation feels about ecology and the environment.

–Students from Kamehameha Schools Maui Middle School in Upcountry Maui tell the story of an Alabama transplant who marches to the beat of a different drum.

–Students from Wai‘anae High School in West O‘ahu take us to the last remaining dairy farm on O‘ahu.

–Students from ‘Ewa Makai Middle School on O‘ahu profile a young woman who uses dance to hold her life together.

To prepare for 1 year, plant kalo.
To prepare for 10 years, plant koa.
To prepare for 100 years, teach the children.

Here at PBS Hawai‘i, count us in for the third option!

Our programming for all ages is designed to nourish minds, and Hawai‘i teachers are very much a part of this educational television/multimedia center.

About 80 digital media teachers from all over the state – private, public and charter school educators – recently met for a workshop in our cheerful new building. These professionals are teaching and learning at the same time, preparing their students for the future in a fast-changing world.

The teaching connection at PBS Hawai‘i is baked in. Our very first general manager was a teacher at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, Robert M. Reed, who established this organization in the 1960s to show the value of television as a teaching aid.

Several chapters of the Hawai‘i Alpha Delta Kappa organization of women educators have long served as volunteers here, overseeing young keiki and students at our events and handling paperwork. ADK members and tireless retired teachers Jean Kiyabu and Julie Shimonishi have served on our Board of Directors.

Another Board member is the extraordinary Candy Suiso of Wai‘anae High School, who many years ago set the stage for PBS Hawai‘i’s HIKI NŌ statewide student news network, by sharing digital media with her students. They became engaged learners and continue to be a potent force in creative youth media, locally and nationally.

Thanks to generous funding from former San Francisco educator Joyce Stupski and her Stupski Family Fund of the Hawai‘i Community Foundation, we are able to provide the schools’ HIKI NŌ teachers with storytelling mentors and training in journalism and video production.

It was a retired public elementary school teacher, Honolulu’s Karen Watanabe, who actually completed our building campaign by leaving us a large gift when she passed away at age 89. She loved math and liked to play the markets.

Leeward O‘ahu’s Teacher of the Year, the innovative Luane Higuchi of Wai‘anae Intermediate, has written a letter urging islanders to invest in children through PBS Hawai‘i.

We’re most grateful and very proud to stand alongside Hawai‘i’s teachers in planting a “can-do” spirit and learning and workforce skills, in preparing children for the future.

My job is essentially to be a problem-solver. There’s certainly enough to reach for, as the fragmented worlds of media and education require more focus, more engagement, more depth, more context. And in this rapidly changing world, answers are a moving target.

But that’s not the toughest part of my job. As in other things in life, the simplest things can be the most difficult. And quite simply, it is very difficult to adequately express thanks.

Our unpaid Board of Directors and lean staff could spend most of the day writing thank-you letters or making calls – and it simply wouldn’t be enough to express the gratitude we feel here for what citizens are supporting.

After we lost our lease at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the people of Hawai‘i and several mainland-based charitable foundations with ties to Hawaii gave us more than $30 million to establish a modern stand-alone multimedia center on Nimitz Highway at the entrance to Sand Island, PBS Hawai‘i’s Clarence T.C. Ching Campus. This nonprofit now owns an acre of land and a two-story building, which (thankfully) came in on time and on budget.

And still, after building us a new house, some viewers thank us. Here’s an example, from a woman who wrote by hand: “I hope you don’t get tired of my thank-you notes but I gotta say how much it means to me to watch [PBS Hawai‘i].” Here’s another hand-written note: “PBS Hawai‘i is contributing to society. I want PBS to continue this way. That’s why I make my donation.”

See what I mean? With a heart full of gratitude, I want you to know that we are dedicated to making the most out of your gift of a new building and your support of programming. We want to raise the bar on our stories and in quality in all areas, including our events for adults and keiki. We want to “be there” for our state – all of it, not just metropolitan Oahu. We want to be trusted for fairness and accuracy. And when we make mistakes, we want to own up and do better. Maybe that’s the best way to convey our thanks.

Also, we’re offering all the thousands of building donors a guided tour of the television station. Next month, after we complete technical troubleshooting, install a photovoltaic energy system and add donor signage, we’ll have an opening ceremony. But because of space concerns, we can’t invite all who made the building possible. So we invite NEW HOME donors to arrange a personal tour, now or later, by calling Christina Sumida at (808) 462-5045. Quite simply, we’d like to thank you in person.